'Follow the science': As Year 3 of the pandemic begins, a simple slogan becomes a political weapon
Two years ago, when science writer Faye Flam launched a podcast to explore why so many Americans were drawn to misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, she settled on a name she figured would steer clear of politics: “Follow the Science.”
The podcast flourished, but its title has posed a constant dilemma for Flam as the phrase “follow the science,” far from uniting Americans, became a weapon, wielded in derision by both sides of the national divide over how to confront the coronavirus.
Like so many Americans, when Flam hears “follow the science” these days, she braces for a statement likely to be anything but scientific: “The phrase became associated with safety-ism and overcaution, like people would use it sarcastically when they saw someone running through a field wearing an N95 mask,” she said. At the same time, “follow the science” also became a taunt deployed by vaccine and mask advocates against those who spurned such mandatory public health measures.
Now, as the torrent of covid-19 cases unleashed by the omicron variant recedes in most of the country, advocates for each side in the masking debate are once again claiming the mantle of science to justify political positions that have as much to do with widespread bipartisan frustration over two years of life in a pandemic as with any evolution of scientific findings.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/02/11/follow-science-year-3-pandemic-begins-simple-slogan-becomes-political-weapon/
